When you’ve only seen a house in photos taken 50 years ago, you’re not sure if you want to see it in its present-day condition. So, it’s a pleasant surprise to see the Daphne house looking kept up (if a little overgrown) and still looking like its original self.
Nicholas and Virginia Daphne commissioned Craig Ellwood to design their house in the late 50s after trying unsuccessfully to work with Frank Lloyd Wright on a house design. In 1953, Mr. Daphne had visited and admired Ellwood’s Case Study House No. 16.
Built on a 2’4″ x 2’4″ module and raised three feet off the ground, the steel frame is infilled with full height Greek Pentelic marble and gray tinted glass. For a shadow effect, the panels of marble and glass were recessed seven inches from the frame. Adding to the sense of floating is the bed of black Mexican rocks around the platform.
The home’s architecture has a Classical look to it and comes across as a modern interpretation of ancient Greek/Roman architecture. This house still looks great and hopefully someone who appreciates its design will pick it up.
Update: Forgot to add this. Here’s the Arts & Architecture article from 1963 about the Daphne Residence.
Sidenote: This house is attributed to Craig Ellwood, but now, Jerry Lomax, an architect employed by Ellwood is recognized as the designer.
Here’s a selection showing the house in 2008 from the realtor’s site.
Carport/Front Porch
Kitchen
Living Room
Pool
Backyard
Links:
MidCentury Architecture 
It was a great pleasure to come upon your website, and I look forward to your future postings.
I had the great pleasure of working with Jerry Lomax on a project in Los Angeles.
There is not a more talented architect in practice today.
The next time that I have the opportunity to build, my first call will be to Jerry.
Jerry currently resides in Northern California.
His website is http://www.jelomax.com .
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From someone who has always wanted to live in a MCM home and, will probably never settle down long enough to do so, I appreciate when a classic is well maintained. Thank you for the early and current day photos.
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I looked at the house this past week. It is a great house with a lot of potential to bring back to it’s original splendor. A few things to note: it is in absolutely original condition – meaning that nothing has been updated (from a cosmetic perspective). From a purist perspective, that is a good thing but will reguire a fair amount of $$ in the kitchen and bath areas. The systems have been updated, however, and the radiant slab heating has been replaced by Runtal radiation.
The home is located in one of the most expensive communities in the Bay Area and is in an absolute prime location.
The asking price has recently been reduced to just under $3.3MM.
NOTE: The house is listed as 3700 SF. My calculations from the original plans, however, come to just over 3000 SF.
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It’s on the market again. This time for a cool $5 million with no obvious renovations. http://architectureforsale.com/address/1084/
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